[UPDATED] Gadsby-Dolly: Smooth sailing on first day of virtual classes

Minister of Education Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly said the ministry had not received any adverse reports after schoolchildren returned to virtual classes on Monday.

In a WhatsApp message to Newsday, Gadsby-Dolly said, “Issues of connectivity and problems with logging in to the platform are par for the course in the online environment.”

She said there have been no reports thus far of issues outside of the ordinary affecting large numbers of students or schools anywhere.

She said 800 devices had been sent to students in need this week.

“Of the 23,000 applicants for devices through the means test, 12,643 have been distributed…That is a total of approximately 35,000 devices distributed over the last school year through the government and corporate Trinidad and Tobago.”

She said all students who completed the means test should be allocated devices by the end of this week.

“There have been reports of parents not completing the means test, and some whose applications were not complete upon submission. These will be dealt with in the upcoming term, as a fresh survey is done to quantify the need.”

She said the ministry will engage stakeholders again next week to discuss the physical reopening of schools.

“This will be the third round of consultation.”

Trinidad and Tobago Unified Teachers Association (TTUTA) president Antonia Tekah-De Freitas told Newsday on Tuesday that she had not received any complaints from teachers either on their virtual return to classes.

“Everything is going well,” she said. “That has been the general feedback.

She said the union is looking into the logistics of the physical return to school and is having discussions with members, the ministry, and the Chief Personnel Officer (CPO) in the ministry on matters pertaining to the reopening.

President of the Association of Principals of Public Secondary Schools of TT Sherra Carrington-James, in an interview on Monday night, said the capacity of schools remains a challenge, even with rotation, to accommodate the physical return of students.

“How will we get all students socially distanced and of course funding and resources is always an issue of how we maintain sanitisation protocols.”

She said consultations with the ministry on the reopening have been going well.

“We are asking for national awareness on what we are consulting on. Let the people know what we have. This is the best at this time, and we have to work with it.”

Vijay Maharaj, general secretary of the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha (SDMS), said while he had not received any complaints on the virtual reopening, he was concerned about the access to devices for some of his students.

“The only thing I am concerned about is we are not getting the quota of computers from the ministry that we applied for concerning the means test, so we are in search of other devices.”

He said in one instance, there were two students from the same family where only one child received a device from the ministry through the means test application.

Maharaj said he does not see the hybrid system being feasible. “It is virtually impossible. You have a teacher in a class of 30 where 27 are in class and 3 are virtual. How are you going to do that? Is the ministry going to put a camera in every classroom?

“The SDMS is of the view that when a parent keeps a child home instead of face-to-face classes, they enter into the realm of home-schooling. The parent has now taken control of the child’s education, then they deal directly with the ministry, and not the school.”

He said if the majority of students get the vaccine and return to the face-to-face environment, the majority should rule.

“We can’t do both. It’s too burdensome on the teachers.”

This story has been adjusted to include additional details. See original post below.

Minister of Education Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly said the ministry had not received any adverse reports after schoolchildren returned to virtual classes on Monday.

In a WhatsApp message to Newsday, Gadsby-Dolly said, “Issues of connectivity and problems with logging in to the platform are par for the course in the online environment.”

She said there have been no reports thus far of issues outside of the ordinary affecting large numbers of students or schools anywhere.

She said 800 devices had been sent to students in need this week.

“Of the 23,000 applicants for devices through the means test, 12, 643 have been distributed…That is a total of approximately 35,000 devices distributed over the last school year through the government and corporate Trinidad and Tobago.”

She said all students who completed the means test should be allocated devices by the end of this week.

“There have been reports of parents not completing the means test, and some whose applications were not complete upon submission. These will be dealt with in the upcoming term, as a fresh survey is done to quantify the need.”

She said the ministry will engage stakeholders again next week to discuss the physical reopening of schools.

“This will be the third round of consultation.”